The True Investment Mood of Insiders

Despite their outsized selling lately, insiders aren't so down on the stock markets, according to a leading academic expert on insider trading.

THOSE WHO BASE THEIR STOCK-MARKET TIMING on the behavior of corporate insiders are running scared these days, since insiders in recent months have sold a lot more of their companies' stock than they have purchased.

But a leading academic expert says that these worries are overblown. According to him, recent insider behavior is neutral, rather than bearish, suggesting an average year for the stock market in 2007.